To The Moon and Back
by mckennawink
Summary: "When you said you loved me to the moon and back, did you mean it?" "Every word Katniss, and even though you broke my heart, I still do."
1. Prologue

"_You know how much I love you."_

"_How much?" I look into her gray eyes, as stormy as a hurricane. I run to the nearest bench in the park and hop on it. I then proceed to yell_

"_I love this woman, Katniss Everdeen, to the moon and back! My love for her will never fade!"_

_And then I hear her laugh, oh her laugh. It makes the stars shine brighter, and makes the days seem worthwhile. But what makes my heart pulse is her smile. Her smile lights up her whole face and makes her seem so innocent._

_Katniss approaches me and takes my hands. She looks into my eyes._

"_I love you, Cato Stone, so much. Words cannot describe how great my love is for you." And then she kisses me._

I wake up, heart pounding and a sweaty mess. It's nightmares like this that remind me why I don't love anymore. Love only leads to loss and after loosing my first love, I never loved again.

I look at my phone and see that's its time for me to get ready for work. Standing up, with much protest from my body, I make my way to the bathroom. While brushing my teeth, I look to the mirror. I haven't changed much since high school, my blonde hair, though messy from sleep, still sits in spikes upon my head. I've become more muscular as I've aged. My face has become more defined, sharp jaw line and distinct cheekbones. My eyes are still the ice blue they've always been, but they haven't been alive since the day she broke my heart.

I try not to think of her, but everyday I see her. Her long brown hair, always adorned in a braid down her back, her muscular frame, due to years of archery, and her eyes, gray, stormy, and always showing what she feels.

I clear her from my mind and go through my usual morning routine. Shave, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to work. Although, what I call work may not be what others think.

**xXx**

I arrive at the training center a few minutes before 8. I park in my spot, adorned with a plate that says my last name and the logo for the Chicago Bulls. I walk into the gym to find most of the team there. I head over to my friends, Thresh and Marvel, asking them,

"You guys ready for the game tonight?"

In his usual cocky matter, Marvel responds, "Ready as ever, the pistons are gonna get their asses handed to them."

"Same here." Thresh said.

"Good, that's the confidence we need to be #1." I say as I begin to warm up for practice.

Marvel and Thresh are polar opposites, Marvel being very flamboyant and cocky, while Thresh is a more introverted and subtle. But these two play perfectly to each other's personalities, as well as to mine.

"Let's get moving men! We need to get in a quick practice before the game tonight!" Yells Coach Brutus.

"Hopefully there's no blood today, guys." I say to Thresh and Marvel. They both laugh, because in the NBA; you can't go a day without blood or sweat.

**xXx**

There's 4 seconds left on the clock and I have the ball. Dribbling down the court, I shoot from the 3-point line, the buzzer sounds, and ball sinks into the net.

Bulls win 104-100. And the crowd goes crazy. But I'm too busy getting tackled by my team to notice.

After a victory celebration in the locker room, consisting of Marvel being his ridiculously crazy self and pouring his Gatorade on me, which was all of 16 oz., I make my way out of the stadium. It's drizzling outside while I make my way to my parking spot, typical Chicago weather. I'm about to get into my car when I hear something that catches my breath.

"Cato?"


	2. Thrift Shop

**The intent of the story has changed a bit, I threw my Itunes on shuffle today and wrote down the song order, which ended up being a great story line for this story. So each chapter is going to be titled with that song and the chapter will be loosely based on the song's lyrics or idea.**

_I'm about to get into my car when I hear something that catches my breath._

_"Cato?"_

**xXx**

"I thought I got rid of you after graduation."

"Now that's no way to talk to your girlfriend now is it?" Purred Glimmer, the skankiest girl I've ever met in my life.

Glimmer went to high school with me, and let's just say, she was a bike and everyone had taken a ride. I'm guilty of hooking up with Glimmer. It was after Katniss broke up with me, my confidence was low and, well, I needed to know that there were other girls than Katniss. But hooking up with Glimmer only showed me that Katniss was the only girl for me and that I never wanted to be with anyone but her. Sadly, Glimmer had other intentions. Since she hooked up with me, and I happened to be the captain of the basketball team as well as one of the most successful basketball players to walk the halls of this school, Glimmer decided that we would be a couple. I was completely against the idea, but Glimmer had spread rumors of us dating before I even knew we were dating. We were "dating" the last month of our senior year, and within that month, I had publicly broken up with her seven times, but she managed to keep our relationship status together.

"Listen to me Glimmer," I say with pure disgust, "We have never been in a relationship, You declared me as your boyfriend, but I have never had any interest in you being my girlfriend. You are a disgusting little whore who ruined the end of my senior year. I moved all the way from Arizona to escape you and any remnants of my high school life. So leave, before I do anything too rash."

Being the disgusting little whore she is, she decides to "try" to be sexy and start grinding on me. It takes all my will power to not throw her off of me.

"Get off me." I say with little patience.

"You know your enjoying it though." Glimmer moans, because apparently she's enjoying this much more than I am.

Clenching my firsts I use an authoritative tone, "Get. Off. Now."

Finally getting it, Glimmer gets off of me and says, "Fine. But this isn't the last you'll see of me, Cato. You belong to me and nobody can take you away from me."

And before I have a chance to retaliate, Glimmer's lips are on mine. In the minor contact we have before I push her off of me, she had already tried to pry my mouth open with her tongue. Once I push her off of me, I tell her,

"You are desperate. You can't seem to wrap your blonde little head around the fact that I want nothing todo with you. I've never had any respect for you and never will, especially after this encounter. You are a piece of trash to me, and maybe you'll mean something to someone else, but never anything to me. Talk to me again Glimmer, and I'll have the police on your tail for stalking me."

And with that, I leave Glimmer gawking like an idiot, while I start my drive home.

**xXx**

I stop at Whole Foods to pick up some dinner for myself. I definitely don't have enough concentration to cook myself dinner. I grab a hearty salad and some Naked juice. I start walking through the aisles to get to the register when I hear a gasp. I turn around to find the source of the sound, but I only see a women's braid whip around the corner of the aisle.

_**Song Used: Thrift Shop(feat. Wanz)- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis**_

**If you didn't get the song correspondence, Cato basically calls Glimmer his own trash that he wants to get ride of and she may just be another person's treasure.**

**Sorry it was short, just had an idea and wanted to get it out there.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**mckennawink**


	3. Love Story

**First off, I'm so sorry about the song. I wasn't even aware that I still owned it. I honestly can't stand Taylor Swift anymore (sorry all you Swifties or whatever you're called...). But it does help with the story line.**

**Secondly, I've been updating quite quickly in the past three days, but I go back to school tomorrow (say it with me, dun dun dun...) and I go back in to rehearsals after school, so updates aren't gonna be so quick, but I'll try to bust them out whenever I can.**

* * *

_I got tired of waiting_  
_Wondering if you were ever coming around_  
_My faith in you was fading_  
_When I met you on the outskirts of town..._

_- Love Story (Taylor Swift)_

* * *

_I start walking through the aisles to get to the register when I hear a gasp. I turn around to find the source of the sound, but I only see a women's braid whip around the corner of the aisle._

**xXx**

Could it be? No, it couldn't, but I follow the braid anyway.

Once Katniss disappeared out of my life after graduation, I followed every dark brown braid I saw, praying it was her. But every time I saw the girl's face, it didn't match the beauty of Katniss'. Eventually, I lost all hope in finding her. I knew I couldn't postpone my life for one girl, but at the same time, I knew she wasn't just any girl. As time went on, I lost faith in Katniss' reappearance in my life. Knowing that I would probably never see her again in my life, I still held on to a shred of hope that the girl with the braid would be walking down the street next to me.

I can't help myself when I say, quite loudly,

"Excuse me?"

The woman in front of me visibly freezes, in fear or surprise, I'm not sure. I take a few steps toward to woman until there are a few feet in between us. I repeat myself in a softer tone, almost a whisper,

"Excuse me?"

She takes a deep breath in, and with a sigh, her body relaxes, as if she's recalling a memory. I take this moment to walk around this woman, and when I face her front side, I'm met with smokey gray eyes that bring memories from lust to pain back to me.

"Katniss?"

She gasps, and looks away from me, as if she's ashamed or embarrassed to see me.

Hurt, that's how I feel. I don't know what I did to make her feel this way, but I want to fix it. Not to make me feel happy, but to keep her from feeling those awful feelings against me.

I gently touch her cheek, only enough to bring her eyes back to my own. But I wish I didn't, because there are tears in her eyes. When I look behind the tears, I see longing. And that's probably the best thing I've seen all day. I smile internally, because Katniss has longed to see me, and she doesn't even need to tell me this because I know her so well, even after all these years.

"Katniss." I say with more confidence, and this seems to jog her memory to where she is right now. And she finally speaks, but what she says hurts more than anything.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I just can't."

And with that, she walks away from me. I feel crushed. The woman I love just walked away from me after not seeing me for five years, but I've learned something since the last time she walked away from me. I don't let her walk away from me this time.

"Wait!"

Just as she turns around, I make it to her and I do the unexpected.

I kiss her.

* * *

**Katniss POV**

Cato kisses me.

Oh Cato, I've missed you so much, and I still love you.

* * *

**And with that, Happy Easter everyone!**


	4. Second Hand White Baby Grand

**So... Don't expect updates this quick. I was just lucky today...**

* * *

_Something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound _  
_Even if it doesn't have a place to live _  
_Oh, the words were left unspoken when my Mama came around _  
_But that Secondhand White Baby Grand still had something beautiful to give_

_-Second Hand White Baby Grand- Megan Hilty (Smash)_

* * *

_Just as she turns around, I make it to her and I do the unexpected._

_I kiss her._

* * *

_**Katniss POV**_

_Cato kisses me._

_Oh Cato, I've missed you so much, and I still love you._

**xXx**

Kissing Cato, it brings back so many memories. Some bad, some good, and some that define who I am.

I take a moment, before I go back to sanity, to just enjoy Cato's lips on mine. He kisses me sweetly, but with an underlying passion. And and I was giving just as much passion as he was. I missed the moments where Cato and I were like this, too much passion to remember where we are... Where we are... in a grocery store... kissing a man I haven't seen in 5 years after he cheated on me.

It takes all my will power, but I push Cato off of me and run in the opposite direction. If it weren't for him being so persistent with me, I would have saved myself all then from these reoccurring memories of the best and worst relationship I was ever in.

* * *

_Cato and I were laying in the park, under the stars. He had just set up the most romantic picnic, which was so cliche, but I loved every second of it. It was filled with romantic candlelights, slow dancing to oldies music, and stargazing._

_It made me want to tell him those three words, which were probably the hardest words to utter in the English language. Why? Fear, fear of the unknown, and fear of rejection. But I, Katniss Everdeen (the most badass girl known to man), was too afraid to say those three little words..._

_I love you._

_"Katniss?"_

_"Hm?" I say, while looking up into his fascinating blue eyes, icy as winter, that constantly keep me intrigued in what he's feeling._

_"I have something I want to tell you." Keeping constant eye contact with me, but his eyes show nerves._

_"What is it?" I ask expecting the worst, but silently encouraging him through my eyes._

_"Well... I've been wanting to say this to you for a while now, but I wanted to wait for the perfect time todo so, and now's the time."_

_He pauses, taking a deep breath._

_"Katniss Everdeen, I love you."_

_And I don't give him time to see my reaction, because I show it to him. I kiss him, with all the passion I can muster._

_Once I pull away. I look at those icy blue eyes, and say those three little words._

_"And I love you."_

* * *

_I was packing up at the end of the school day. Today was uneventful, and oddly, I never saw Cato. I knew he was at school because I was texting him out of boredom and he was telling me about his awful classes._

_I hadn't seen him since the end of the day yesterday, and we were supposed to go on a date last night, but he cancelled last minute and wouldn't tell me where he was going to be. I didn't think much of it, since Cato has been faithful to me for 3 years now and didn't think he would start now._

_I sensed someone behind me, and thought it was Cato. I turned around smiling, until I saw green eyes and long blond hair._

_It was Glimmer, the school slut._

_"Well hi there Cat piss."_

_I try to walk around her, but she cuts me off._

_Exasperatedly, I say, "Hi there, Glitter."_

_Having a mini temper tantrum, she tries to glare at me and says, "It's Glimmer, Damn it!"_

_"Sure thing, Sequins."_

_As I begin to walk around her she says,_

_"Ask your boyfriend what my name is, since he was yelling it all night last night."_

_I freeze._

_"What the hell do you mean by that?" I say turning around to face her._

_Smirking, she retaliates, "Where was he last night?"_

_"I don't know, we had a date, but he had to cancel last minute. Didn't tell me why." I say truthfully._

_Mocking fake sympathy, she sarcastically says, "Aww, he didn't want to hurt your feelings."_

_She walks up to me, until we're inches apart, and then almost silently, she says,_

_"Last night, Cato was with me. He told me how much he's loved me since I moved here a year ago, but he didn't know how to break up with you. After he told me that, we had sex. And it was amazing. He told me you guys haven't had sex yet, wonder why? He told be he was going to break up with you after school today. Look's like he hasn't yet, sorry for spoiling the surprise."_

_And with that I walk away from Glimmer. And surprisingly enough, I walk straight into Cato. I look into his eyes to see nerves. He takes a deep breath and says,_

_"Hey Kat, I wanna talk to you."_

_Without hesitation, I say, "Don't waste your breath, we're done. Don't ever speak to me again."_

_And with that, I walk out of the school, tears streaming down my face._

* * *

I try to get away from him as fast as I can, but as I make it into the parking lot, he grabs my elbow and pulls me to face him.

"Katniss."

I don't look at him.

"Katniss." He says with much less patience. I still don't look at him.

"For God's sake, look at me Katniss!" I do.

"What's wrong?" He says much gentler.

I look at him for a while, studying his face, his jaw line, his stubble, and his eyes. They're traced with worry and sorrow.

I finally speak, "What's wrong? Where do I start? The man I've spent the past 5 years avoiding randomly pops back into my life. The man I would have married if it wasn't for his mistake that costed our entire relationship." I have tears brimming my eyes now.

With pure confusion, he asks, "What mistake?"

I loose it then, "What mistake! Are you kidding me? Are you a fucking idiot? You slept with the fucking school slut before you slept with the girl you'd been dating for three years! And not to mention it, you'd stopped loving me for an entire year and just kept me hanging around! Who do you think you are!" I scream. And by the end of my rant, I'm sobbing.

Cato looks confused and hurt.

"What do you mean I slept with the school slut?"

I look at him, studying his face for lies.

"Glimmer, that school slut." I say sarcastically.

"I never slept with her. I've always seen her as a slut. I would never been seen within ten feet of her, let alone sleep with her when I was dating the most amazing woman in the world."

I look at him in disbelief.

"Then where were you the night before I broke it off?"

"Buying you a promise ring, because I was going to promise to you that once we had the money, I was going to buy you the most beautiful engagement ring in the world and give you the best life I possibly could."

I break down sobbing at that point because I know he's telling the truth. And that's why he couldn't tell me where he was going.

Cato takes me in his arms and holds me until I stop crying.

And then the apologies begin.

"I'm so sorry Cato. Words cannot begin to describe my condolences. I can't believe I listened to that slut and completely believed her. I was just so stupid back then and I ruined everything that we had created."

Cato didn't answer me, he just squeezed me tighter.

"Will you ever be able to forgive me Cato?"

He paused, and moved me so he could look into my eyes. Then he said,

"I can forgive you, if we can try to make us work again."

I look at him in complete disbelief,

"But look at us, we're so broken. We haven't spoken to each other in five years."

"But do you still love me?"

I look at his eyes, the eyes that I can never forget because I've loved them since I first saw them.

"Yes."

He looks taken aback for a second, but then responds,

"Just because something is broken, doesn't mean that it can't be beautiful or perfect."

And with that, I kiss him for the first time in five years, with every emotion I've felt since the day we broke up, but above all these emotions, is love and happiness.

And I can honestly say that I knew he felt the same way too.


End file.
